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we are always pleased and surprised to find wonderful articles around the internet mentioning Multi Shelters, and here’s one I came across today that I thought I’d share with you! Thank you for the mention endchildpoverty.ca! wonderful initiatives you are doing! https://www.endchildpoverty.ca/share-your-news.html

Norm Eygenraam, of Palmerston United Church in Ontario, is the owner of Multi-Shelter Solutions. On May 10, 2016, in partnership with the Breakfast Club of Canada, he presented a 20’x48′ greenhouse to the Johnny Therriault School, located in the Aroland First Nations community. Norm felt very blessed to be part of the unbelievable excitement surrounding this project. The greenhouse, in addition to actually growing more fresh food for the community, will also serve as a teaching tool to show the children how to grow food. In his address, Norm focused especially on hope and gratitude. Hope in knowing that there is a brighter future and that there are people out there who care.

​Norm and his wife also purchased gardening books for the teachers and children to use as a resource. As well, they contributed plant starter kits (mini greenhouses) so that each classroom was able to begin growing plants immediately. In addition, he brought along a supply of easy-to-grow vegetables, including green and yellow beans, peas and onions. Finally, he provided 6 very large bags of compost to help the children build up the soil. Thank you Norm for your inspirational example of generosity, compassion and caring.

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One of the most common questions we get asked is regarding installation of our structures. We have tried to create a simple yet effective solution for your applications, and recently have revamped our installation guide with more pictures, a glossary and more detailed instructions about everything to empower our customer more.

These structures are supplied as kits, intended for our customer to be able to install themselves. We are available for whatever questions you may have. We have confidence that you will be able to install these structures yourselves with a small team of people. You will get a complete manual with every order. You can download our instruction manual through the links below for a preview or to prepare for your delivery.

There is quite a bit of information contained in this manual that it CRITICAL to be understood. These structures are more complex to assemble than your typical Swedish Furniture.

click here to download a step by step breakdown of the process in PDF format and click here to see a photo explanation of the process. You can also view the additional articles, links or videos on our how to page. Please note, not all pages or options apply to everyone. TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MANUAL ABOVE, NOT AS A STAND ALONE RESOURCE.

While we are enjoying the nice weather of the summer, it’s always a great time to be thinking of your late summer and fall projects. Often we hear people rueful that they were not able to get their structure up before snowfall since winter always sneaks up. What better time to plan for those projects than now!

We have many wonderful weather days for installing, rather than having to settle with a less than ideal day to put the building up and especially fasten the cover down. Friends and neighbours would likely be more willing to help as well.

These buildings are great for storing the hay and other equipment for your farm.

They can cover your swimming pool to extend your season into late fall/early winter.

Park your RV, boat or other fun summer toys over the winter to keep them protected.

Plan for a garage so this will be the year you don’t need to brush snow off your vehicle.

There are so many great uses, call us today to discuss your project requirements and out there ideas!

The fall is always a busy time here at Multi Shelters. We would love to help you with your 2017 project, and we hope to hear from you soon!

An inflator fan is a very small fan which is attached to the inner layer of a double layer structure cover. Because the inflator is a squirrel cage type of fan, it can run continuously against the back pressure it has created without over heating.

The primary benefit of the process of putting air between the two layers of cover is to reduce heat loss. By having this cushion of “insulation”, the building experiences a significant reduction in condensation. The air filled pockets acts as a shock absorber therefore substantially stiffens the building in very windy locations. Covers tend to last longer since they are always tight.

The closer you are to achieving dead air space, the more these benefits can be maximized. 4”-5” of air space is optimum. Too much air space will result in air movement and reduced efficiency. When installing a double cover, both layers are on the outside of the structure but only the inside layer is pulled tight.

For all of those who are either off the grid or too far from a practical source of electricity, stay tuned for our solar powered inflator fan announcement coming very shortly

It is critical to remember that “A” and “B”, who are pulling on the two respective covers, must always be pulling at least a foot ahead of “C” who is installing the wire insert. This will allow a little give in the covers so that there will not be damage.

With more experience “B” and “C” can be done by one person.

It is also important to remember the wrist technique for installing the wire insert. Do not slide the wire straight back and forth. This causes abrasions on the cover.

As you move back and forth, apply pressure with the thumb on the next parallel spot of the wire insert.
Use a needle nose pliers to get the last tip into the channel.
The next wire insert does not have to be overlapped.

For more details and to watch an illustration, please see our YouTube Video below

Another variation on greenhouse plastic is with an IR (infra-red) coating.

The IR plastic can reduce your heat loss by up to 20% over a regular double poly installation.

Even though this plastic has a hazy look to it, the light transmission properties are actually a couple percentage points better.

This plastic comes standard with an anti-condensate coating which means there will be less dripping in the greenhouse.

All of these features make IR plastic an attractive alternative for many people in spite of the fact that the cost is roughly 20% more then regular plastic. This plastic does not have an inside or outside.

The cell structure that the Infrared plastic is made from is significantly different from the regular plastic. This gives the plastic a much softer texture and feel and contributes to it not being as strong as regular plastic. This is why we suggest that it only be used as the inside layer of a double plastic installation.

The slight restriction for people with shorter greenhouses is that the IR plastic only comes in 100′ and 150′ rolls. You would either have a friend who can buy/use the extra or be prepared to “waste” some. There are also not quite as many choices for available widths as with regular plastic.

Please call Norm to specifically inquire about more information regarding these special coatings.

We are quite excited and know it will be a valuable resource for many. You can email or call the office and we will ship you out a copy if you don’t want to purchase online.

Based largely on Norm’s Greenhouses 101 speech from the Guelph Organic Conference, with many extra tidbits and stories from Norm’s experience along the way over the last 45 years, it’s certainly a useful resource for anyone considering, or maintaining their structure of any application. Please contact us if you have any questions. We hope you’ll enjoy the book and would love to hear what you think!

“I should have known that I would get into this business when I was younger because the highlight of my birthday was always getting new pieces to my Mechano set. Now, I often describe these structures as big Mechano sets. It feels very fitting.”

Are you considering purchasing a greenhouse to start your own operation?
Are you unsure of all your options and what you should know?
Do you want to know what you’re getting into?

Using Norm Eygenraam’s 45 years experience in the industry, we have created this book for you to help! Through illustrations, tips, stories, photos and more, we help you understand all you need to consider. We do use Multi Shelter Solutions examples throughout, as that is what we have easiest access to, but this is by no means a sales book.

This guide is meant to inform you of your choices and show you key considerations in your planning journey. We have tried to make this book as informative as possible, no matter which direction you choose to go.

Enjoy, and happy planning!

Available on Amazon for purchase, or you can go through our facebook page
We appreciate your support!

A question that we are asked regularly is “Do I need a building permit for this building?”

The simple answer is “Generally, yes”

And to get a permit for one of our structures, you need to have engineered drawings from us (which we have for most of our standard buildings)

However, there is seldom a month where we do not hear a strange interpretation of some rule which we have not heard before.

There continues to be a huge variation in the interpretation of the rules. This goes beyond the fact that certain areas get more snow and wind then others and therefore require sturdier buildings.

Our focus will continue to be getting an understanding of what it is that you are dealing with so that we can put together a structure package that will serve your needs for years to come. Educating our customers on weather dynamics on these buildings continues to be a valuable component of that process.

Many of our customers, who are putting their new building out of sight and they get along with their neighbours, will put up the building without asking questions.

This is certainly not a practice we recommend or encourage but acknowledge as a reaction to officials who do not understand these buildings or how they work. It is difficult to understand why identically fabricated building, installed on nearby locations, can run into a problem simply because of what they are using the building for.

As an example, in one week, we received calls from two prospective customers, the first had been given a 10 page form to fill out and the other was ready to order his building since he had been specifically told “you do not need a permit for a tent”.

In most municipalities these buildings are classified as low human occupancy, temporary buildings. We have engineer approved drawings for a number of our standard buildings as governed by the Farm Building Code.

With the large amount of variations that we offer, we are sometimes in a situation where the building is somewhere between two approved units. It is quite easy for us to upgrade the building to a higher wind or snow rating but that does not mean it will be automatically acceptable without a specific set of engineer evaluated drawings for your site.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for clarification on any point of confusion.